updated 08:35 am EDT, Mon May 12, 2008

BlackBerry Windows Live

Research in Motion today continued a string of announcements for its Wireless Enterprise Symposium with word that it will start offering Microsoft's key Windows Live services on its smartphones. Both Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger will be available from the software and will only require a single sign-in to access both services when they sign in. The BlackBerry's trademark "push" technology will apply to Hotmail and will deliver mail almost in real-time to the phone, complete with full HTML and an optional separate inbox; Live Messenger in turn will have the same multi-chat and emoticon options as with other clients.

Both Microsoft software platforms will reach RIM's devices in the summer; the company doesn't say whether the updates will apply retroactively to devices in use but is timing the launch to coincide with that of the BlackBerry Bold, which is the first device confirmed to be shipping with BlackBerry OS 4.6. Current phones already support both the in-house BlackBerry Messenger as well as Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger.